Avraham Ben Yosef and Esther nee Margalit

The Actor Avraham Ben Yosef- One of the Founders of The Camari Theater Avraham Ben Yosef was born in 1907 as Bezik Kogen in Ungheni Serbia. In 1920, when he was 13 years old, he came to Israel with his family. He studied in the Gymnasia Herzeliya in Tel Aviv. Two years later the family returned to Sarajevo due to financial difficulties. Avraham completed his studies in the Russian Gymnasia and then moved to Romania. Between the years 1924-1929 he studied engineering in Ghent University in Belgium. He left to join a Jewish-Russian student theater group. Upon completion of his studies he travelled to Berlin to study theater at the Seminar under Max Reinhart. However due to financial difficulties he was not accepted. Avraham learned acting by watching plays in the theater. At the same time he studied dance and singing in Copenhagen. In 1939, after the establishment of the Nazi government in Romania, when he was 32 years old, he came to Israel on the illegal immigrant ship 'Astir'. He was offered an opportunity to produce two plays by the Bulgarian director Yitzchak Moshe Daniel. One play was for adults and one for children. Neither of them were ever performed. Later he acted in the satirical cabaret 'Papilion" that was founded by Martin Rost and Stella Kadmon. After its closure, due to the fear of bombings, he joined the opera and was one of the founders of the Popular Israeli Opera. (1940-1041). He joined Yosef Milo and together with Batya Lancet and Rosa Lichtenstein producerd a show called "From Then Until Today". Due to its success the five of them decided to found the first Israeli modern theater, The Camari Theater. Avraham Ben Yosef also acted in Giora Gudik's musical, My Fair Lady, in the part of Pickering. Ben Yosef starred in the many plays including: The Beautiful Helena; The Sound of Schubert; The Servant of Two Masters; Antigone; The Doll House and The Barber of Seville. Avraham Ben Yosef passed away on 1/12/1980 at the age of 73 leaving his wife, the actress Esther Margalit and two sons: Sefi and Noam. After his death the Tel Aviv Municipality established a prize in his memory which is awarded each year to an actor from the Camari Theater. The Actress Esther Ben Yosef (nee Margalit) Esther Ben Yosef was born in Tel Aviv on 18/8/1924.Her mother was Nani Margalit (Margolis), one of the founders of WIZO, and the secretary of David Wolfson. Her father, Heinrich Margolit, was born in Germany. He was one of the founders of the Anglo-Palestine Bank. She had two brothers: Otniel (1916) and Rafael (1921). The family was Zionistic and moved to Israel in 1925. They lived in Tel Aviv on 18 Yochanan Hasandler Street and later moved to 10 Hagalil Street. Her maternal grandparents were Rabbi Menachem Oyerbach and his wife Miriam Pozen. Her paternal grandparents were Morris and Clara Margolis. Clara remained in Germany. In her youth, (1932-1947), she grew up in the Tel Binyamin neighborhood in Ramat Gan and studied in the Gymnasia Herzliya. While in school she was accepted as a dancer in the ballet corps of the Popular Israeli Opera and in 1945 she was accepted to The Camari Theater. In 1946 she married the Camari actor, Avraham Ben Yosef. She stopped performing when their first child, Sefi (1947), was born. Their second son Noam was born in 1954. In 1960 she started working in the Export Institute as the director of the art studio, in the ShalomTowers in Tel Aviv. She later opened a studio to display jewelry of Israeli artists, on Mapu Street, in Tel Aviv. In 1981, after the death of her husband, she moved to Jerusalem. In this photographic collection there are pictures from the Camari plays in which Avraham Ben Yosef and his wife Esther (Esti) Ben Yosef participated throughout the years. In addition there are personal and family pictures. כמנהלת מרכז למלאכת מחשבת ולאחר מכן פתחה בתל אביב ברחוב מאפו, גלריה לתכשיטים של אומנים ישראליים. Read more